i8 93 .] THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 181 



is found commonly in Ireland, but we have no authentic record of its 

 capture in any other portion of the British Isles.* 



Our correspondent, Mr. W. E. Sharp of Ledsham, who takes great 

 interest in this subject, has kindly written us on this variety as 

 follows : — " Subvotundata seems to me to be a form of specific and not 

 only varietal divergence. It differs from the type, and also no less 

 from the var. brunnea, in general size, colour, shape, punctation of 

 thorax, and sculpture of thorax and elytra ; e.g. the convex margins 

 of both are much broader. So far 1 can find no authentic instance of 

 any capture except in Ireland and the Isle of Man. Canon Fowler 

 himself throws doubt on Reitter's record of Scotland, and I myself 

 believe that the various records from Devonshire, South Wales, &c, 

 really refer to var. brunnea. This, of course, is only an opinion. What 

 we want is further information on the following points : — 



a. Is there any absolute record of 5. subvotundata from England 

 or Scotland ? 



b. Is there any record from any other locality in the palearctic zone ? 



c. If not, what is the nearest exotic form ? 



To these questions I have so far been unable to find satisfactory 

 answers. There seems to be an error in distinguishing between this 

 var. and the type by the difference in the length of the ribs of the 

 elytra, as all vary individually, and both type and so-called variety 

 vary about the same." 



In concluding this paper, we beg to thank Mr. Sharp, with whose 

 opinion respecting subvotundata we rather agree ; and also Messrs. 

 Chaney, Chitty, Newbery, and other correspondents who have kindly 

 assisted us with information as to the occurrence, &c, from their own 

 experience, of the species comprised in the Genus Silpha. 



MR. DALE ON " ENTOMOLOGICAL 

 NOMENCLATURE." 



("British Naturalist," July, 1893, pp. 142-146.) 

 BY DR. BUCKELL. 



Mr. Dale's second paper is unfortunately marred by the same 

 characteristics as his former one. 



Leach's name Goneptevyx for rkamni, which is undoubtedly the 

 prior one, but which has never obtained currency save in this country, 

 was deliberately rejected by Boisduval on account of its too great 

 similarity to Gonopteva which had been established by Latreille for a 



* Fowler states that 5. rotundata has been recorded from Glanvilles Wootton, Devon- 

 shire, and South Wales. As we do not know on whose authority these records were 

 made, we have omitted them, as requiring further confirmation. — G.A.L. and W.F.J. 



